Published Sunday, 30 July, 2000, 02:20 PM GMT PWC predicts massive losses due to viruses

According to statistics from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, viruses and other destructive actions taken by computer hackers will cost businesses an estimated $1.6 trillion by the end of this year alone. Furthermore, the report predicted that 40,000 person years of productivity would be lost due to computer downtime.

Commenting on the reports alarming findings, Ziad Tassabehji, president of Interactive Technologies, a UAE security solutions provider for Axent, said with such cyber-crimes threatening the stability and efficiency of interactive systems worldwide, the previously underestimated subject of e-Security is an issue that must be brought to the attention of users and businesses alike.

The recent high profile security incidents involving Emirates Internet & Multimedia, the UAEs PTT Internet subsidiary, has also highlighted that even the regions largest organisations are not safe from the potential threat of hackers.

In light of the growing menace posed by computer hackers, many organisations are expected to invest heavily in Internet and network security solutions. Interactive Technologies is already pushing its range of Axent security products into the region. Through Interactive Technologies partnership with Axent, we will provide e-Security to our clients  the ability to manage risk of information assets and to facilitate business processes safely, which will help our customers move to new business models leveraging the Internet, said Tassabehji. The key aspects of Axents products enable customers to assess vulnerabilities and ensure policy compliance; protect critical information systems, provide Intruder Alert, enable security Internet usage, and manage and administer users and resources, he added.

Axent's products are used by 45 of the top Fortune 50 US companies, five of the six largest public accounting firms, and industry leaders such as Sprint, Toronto Dominion Bank, Mobil, and Unilever as well as government agencies, including EPA and the US Air Force.

In an earlier publication from the Information Technology Association of America in June 2000, Axent reports that more than three in five US consumers say that security concerns make them less likely to do business online and believe that consumers are not being adequately protected against cyber-crime.

http://www.itparabia.com/cover/0,2218,0|27|x|1917,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 30, 2000